Cleveland Erases 14-point Bear Lead

Browns 28, Chicago Bears 24Wrigley Field, Chicago

November 30, 1969

By Chuck Heaton
Plain Dealer Reporter

CHICAGO - The Browns yesterday rallied from a 14-point deficit to reach their first goal of this 1969 season. For the third straight year, they are champions of the National Football League's Century Division.

Blanton Collier's improving squad clinched the crown by edging the tough but mistake-prone Chicago Bears, 28-24, before 45,050 fans on a sunny, chilly day at Wrigley Field.

Now they have loftier ambitions: an Eastern Conference title, the NFL honors and the Super Bowl title. That's what they were talking about in the packed, steamy dressing room a few minutes after this fifth victory in six tries against the former Monsters of the Midway.

There were heroes galore in the Cleveland quarters.

GARY COLLINS, who received the game ball, caught six passes for 126 yards. The big flanker made the clutch grabs, including two for gains of 12 and 34 yards en route to the winning touchdown.

Mike Howell had run down Bob Wallace after the Bears end had shaken loose to take a pass from big Bobby Douglass in the closing seconds of the hard-hitting battle. It was the climax of a big and busy day for the free safety.

Bill Nelsen, sore ribs and all, put things together after a slow start. The quarterback wound up with 16 completions in 30 attempts for 290 yards and two touchdowns.

It was tough running against the blitzing Bears for Ron Johnson and Leroy Kelly. The former, however, rammed 1 yard for a second-quarter touchdown, and circled left end for 7 yards and the winning points in the last quarter.

THERE WERE OTHER heroes. Ron Snidow, for instance, helped set the pace in placing late pressure on Douglass, the rookie quarterback from Kansas.

The Bears, certainly better than their 1-10 record and basement spot in the rugged Central Division might indicate, also had some sparkling performers.

Gale Sayers wound up with 126 yards on 20 carries and has moved ahead of Cal Hill of Dallas in the league rushing race. He scored on a 1-yard smack in the second quarter and was practically unstoppable the first half.

It was in those first two periods the Bears took first a 14-0 bulge and then a 21-14 halftime margin that Sayers really sparkled. He ran for 89 yards before the intermission, making big gains through small holes.

AND DICK BUTKUS, still hampered some by a sore leg, was his usual rugged self on defense. The middle linebacker played a bruising game and stacked up the Cleveland running game.

Douglass had a good first half but was cooled by the Browns' more aggressive defense in the last two quarters. He finished with 10 of 27 for 145 yards but also scrambled for 49 yards.

The Browns' touchdowns besides the two by Johnson were registered on beautiful pass plays. Paul Warfield put the visitors on the board in the second quarter by taking a 10-yard aerial from Nelsen in the end zone.

Chip Glass scored his second touchdown as a pro in spectacular fashion. The rookie from Florida State made a one-handed grab on a 24-yard pass from Nelsen in the third quarter. That, coupled with Don Cockroft's third of four extra points for the day, finally evened the count at 21-all.

MIKE HULL, second-year fullback from Southern Cal, went 4 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter after Sayers had scored from a yard out. A pass from Douglass to Bob Wallace for 21 yards had opened the Bears' point producing.

The Bears took the lead for the second time with just over seven minutes gone in the final quarter on a 10-yard field goal by Mac Percival. The successful boot, which gave Chicago a 24-21 bulge, came after Ed O'Bradovich recovered Nelsen's fumble on the Cleveland 48.

The Central club moved to a first down on the 8 but could only push as far as the 3 against the beefed-up Cleveland defense. So the Bears settled for the field goal.

The Browns came right back with a scoring drive that went 90 yards in eight plays. In addition to the two aerials to Collins in the march, there was one to Kelly good for 29 yards. Leroy caught three in all for 53 yards.

COCKROFT'S fourth placement came with less than four minutes left. And he had a chance to clinch the victory shortly thereafter but missed on a 27-yard field goal attempt.

So the Bears took over on their own 20 with 55 seconds left and gave Cleveland that late scare. With the count third and 21, Douglass hit Wallace for 45 yards, with Howell finally running down the receiver.

Time was left for three long but incomplete passes by the strong-armed Douglass before the game ended, and the Browns danced triumphantly from the field.

The Browns, who face the Green Bay Packers in the final home game at the Stadium next Sunday, made fewer errors, and that probably was the most important factor in the game. They lost the ball just once on a fumble, as compared to three times for the Bears.

CLEVELAND'S air attack also proved much superior once Nelsen began outguessing the blitzers.

Bill wasn't thrown at all by the burly Bears, while Douglass, 6-4 and 215 pounds, was snowed under by the Cleveland rush on four occasions for losses of 48 yards.

The Cleveland second-half comeback gave the winners a total of 358 yards to 334 for the Bears.

It was the first victory over a Central team after losses to Detroit and Minnesota. And a victory over Green Bay will make it a .500 season against the rugged division, which is supposed to be tougher than the Century.

The Browns now have an 8-2-1 record, with games in St. Louis and New York following the home finale. Those can be used for polishing the offense and defense for the anticipated visit to Dallas on Dec. 28.

The Cowboys, earlier victims of the Browns, have just about clinched the Capital honors and thus should be the next big hurdle for the Century champions.

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